We've just launched a new website (www.hostofideas.com) to link great entrepreneurs with great investors. Please check out our website - there will be regular competitions to get involved in. We have just launched two competitions - one for healthcare and one for female entrepreneurs. Any feedback would be welcome!

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Host of Ideas, a new online platform that connects sophisticated investors with entrepreneurs based out of UK, US and India announced its launch today in time for the Olympics. With an impressive list of Founding Investor members, Host of Ideas aims to be the go-to place for early stage investment on both sides of the Atlantic.

Founder Will Andrews, who is based in Chicago, says of the launch “We are thrilled to launch in time for the Olympics, and in some ways have been doing our own Olympic sprint to get the platform live. It’s our dream to see great opportunities efficiently capitalized to become the great companies of tomorrow.” With offices in London and Chicago, and a team in India, Host of Ideas aims to bring both ideas and investment across the Atlantic, exporting European talent and capital to the US and vice versa.

Host of Ideas has an impressive list of Founding Member Investors drawn from a number of countries, which includes Michael Cline of Accretive Ventures, financier Sir Laurie Magnus, entrepreneur turned venture capitalist David Giampaolo, together with members of the Harvard Business School Angels and the Forbes Midas List. Andrews adds, “Unlike other crowd-sourcing investment platforms our investors must be accredited which insures they can adequately assess the risks and rewards involved.”
Andrews says, “There is no shortage of talent or capital but there seems to be a problem connecting the two. We aim to solve this problem.”

Andrews founded the company at the start of 2012 with the aim of galvanizing the start-up scene globally. In his early thirties, his career has included a stint at McKinsey, raising capital for a healthcare business, and also working as a medical doctor.

Speaking of the inaugural "Female Founders Challenge 2012” co-founder and former Al-Jazeera launch team strategist, Georgie Weedon says, “It’s great to be able to stake a flag in the ground and see what female start-up talent we can find. We’re also very much looking to up our pool of female investors so if you are reading this, please get in touch!” Weedon is keen to add that the platform is still open to males. “We have a pool of active and influential accredited investors, and we want to attract the best start-up talent regardless of gender. Female Founders is simply our first talent treasure hunt, we’ve also launched a Healthcare App Challenge and will do a Big Data and Analytics Challenge in the coming months and we’re keen to hear from India and Latin America as well as EU/USA.”

All early stage ventures are encouraged to check out the Host of Ideas website as they intend to run a series of talent challenges to find the next wave of early stage fast growth ventures both here in the UK and abroad.